2:05 PM, February 5, 2013

Monica Conyers and Sam Riddle / Detroit Free Press file photos

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

'Kilpatrick Enterprise' trial coverage

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, and his longtime contractor friend Bobby Ferguson were convicted in U.S. District Court in Detroit. They were accused in a conspiracy to enrich themselves by rigging City of Detroit contracts through the mayor's office. Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 of 30 counts, Ferguson was found guilty on nine of 11 counts and Bernard Kilpatrick was convicted on one of four counts. A fourth defendant, former water department director Victor Mercado, pleaded guilty to conspiracy during the trial and awaits sentencing.

Monica Conyers and Sam Riddle, two of Detroit’s most notorious public corruption figures, are both out of prison — just in time for the highly anticipated verdict in ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s trial.

Jury deliberations are expected to begin next Tuesday in Kilpatrick’s case. Kilpatrick and his codefendants were targeted in the same decade-old public corruption probe that secured a conviction from Riddle, Conyers and at least 15 others — including Kilpatrick’s former right-hand man Derrick Miller and ex-city water director Victor Mercado.

Conyers and Riddle, who were accused of shaking down businesses for thousands of dollars, both got 37-month prison sentences for bribery. Now, they’re out and back in Detroit.

Conyers, the former Detroit city councilwoman and wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, pleaded guilty for taking a bribe in exchange for her vote on a sludge deal. Riddle's initial bribery case ended in a mistrial due to a holdout juror, and he later cut a deal with the government and pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

Conyers is on home confinement after being released from a halfway house Jan. 25, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross. Before that, she served time at a federal prison camp dubbed Camp Cupcake for its cozy, sorority-like setting in the West Virginia countryside.

According to Ross, Conyers earned a total of 108 days of good behavior, which means her sentence will officially end May 16. While on home confinement, Conyers will be allowed to go to church and doctor’s appointments under the guidance of corrections officials.

Ross would not comment on any specific rules Conyers must follow while on home confinement, but he did say such inmates are generally “required to stay home under non-work days, and they are expected to seek employment. Or if they have a job, to maintain employment.”

Ross also said electronic monitoring can be used on home confinement inmates, but he would not say whether Conyers is wearing a tether.

Riddle got his taste of full freedom Jan. 29. The one-time aide to Conyers also served a brief stint at a halfway house last fall before being sentenced to home confinement Oct. 10.